It said it had emerged that a British diplomat and two Chinese policemen attended Mr Heywood's cremation in Chongqing shortly after he was killed.

But the British did not raise questions with the Chinese until three months later, despite locally based British businessmen urging the Foreign Office to intervene, the newspaper said.

An FCO spokesman said: "As we became more concerned about this case, including following suggestions from the business community, we took the decision to ask the Chinese authorities to launch an investigation.

"We acted as soon as we thought concerns about the case justified it.

"We are pleased that the Chinese have now launched that investigation. We were in constant contact with the family throughout and kept them informed of our actions."

He said: "We did ask the Chinese to hold an investigation and we are pleased that they are now doing that.

"It is very important we get to the truth of what happened in this very disturbing case, this very tragic case."

Mr Heywood had lived in China for 10 years and was fluent in Mandarin. He had two children with his Chinese wife.
Saturday's Daily Mail said that his wife, Wang Lulu, had visited the British embassy in Beijing on Friday, and was understood to have asked for a visa to go to the UK with her children.